BEARS WIN vs. Cardinals & what we’ve learned about Justin Fields? | Hoge & Jahns

What have we learned definitively about Justin Fields up to this point, and what do we think Ryan Poles has learned? Let’s dig into the win over the Cardinals with some perspective on the divided fanbase and what we should be thinking about the looming 5th year option for Fields, the number one pick in sight, Caleb Williams’ sub-tweets and more.

#chicagobears #chicago #nfl #justinfields

What’s up welcome in hog and John’s with you post Christmas hopefully everyone uh enjoyed their Christmas with their families nice little Christmas Eve victory for the Bears Adam John’s and uh a day to digest everything before we we jump into what it all means are you

Talking about the Bears are all the food I ate and the the cookies and the sweets and the well both yeah that now that digestion takes a couple days I I’m not a young 21y old who recovers quickly anymore I’m a see something sports writer I I don’t know what it’s like in

Your family in mine Christmas Eve is almost a bigger deal than Christmas day especially when it comes to the food like usually like we have a tradition of shrimp and crab and you know we go all out with the seafood on Christmas Eve and um you know to be honest I felt like

I missed most of it because you know the Bears game and we’re doing Cho on Sunday and by the time I got back in there like dude where’d all the crab go like a couple legs there laying not enough leftovers yeah no well that stuff goes

Fast in my in this house I gotta say there’s there’s always one like food like that that clears out where there’s never enough for like the next morning like same thing applies to Thanksgiving like there’s always enough turkey and stuffing right but other side dishes like sometimes your favorites there’s

Never enough for the the second helping you that you want the next day I did do some digging around though last night and I accidentally found a secret stash of crab legs someone hid them and I was like well wait a minute here so I don’t know this

Might we might need an investigation to figure all this out or you’re telling yourself merry F and Christmas Adam H um but no it’s been a it’s been a good couple days and and of course uh we apologize for not having a postgame episode Sunday but um you know I think

Think people are enjoying the game and spending time with their families anyway so we’re going to sort of do a mixed Tuesday episode for you we’ll react to everything from Sunday and then spin the conversation forward as we usually do we got some voicemails a little lighter

Than usual because of the holiday and that’s all good um but plenty of conversation I know there’s been a lot of reaction the last couple days to Justin Fields game um how about the Patriots winning uh that helped the Bears with the number one pick situation

As as well uh and there’s the Caleb Williams tweet that’s gone viral for many reasons uh with with the Bears it’s not even one of his tweets it’s just a like of a tweet gotta love that that’s 2023 Sports coverage for you so make sure you’re following us on Twitter Adam

Hog Adam Johns you can read johy on the athletic theathletic.com hogen Johns got a new column up today um on Justin fields and Ryan poles and um I brought in some of the convers ation from Randy Mueller from last week’s episode we’ll we’ll discuss some of that as well and

Uh you can also find us at Hogan John’s and at Hogan johns.com as well to get all your merch and uh that’s all there for you as as always all right we’re gonna play a voicemails a little bit earlier on in this show before we get to that though

Just initial reaction from Sunday’s game Bears get a win they’re now six and n on the season nice and uh just what was your what was your biggest takeaway biggest takeaway is I think the defense found a way to close the door I do think the defensive progress is more than tangible

It’s it’s beyond real at this point they’re they’re consistent and Kyler Murray can be good in two-minute situations and the defense the Bears defense at least in this game uh well it was better I think that’s real for the Bears and it’s a bad team but it’s still

Good to be bad teams I think you want a little bit more from Justin Fields but the running game was back the offensive line had a great game against an inferior opponent so there’s there’s things to feel good about for sure yeah um yeah I think it was good that they

Closed the door um I I didn’t necess I didn’t necessarily like that they only managed two field goals in the second half you know that seemed like a it seemed like a game that very that early on could have been a big blowout and then all of a sudden fourth quarter interception and

It’s a one possession game just like that um and I it just look a win’s a win you feel good about it you take them in the NFL no question about it but at the same time I’m like man they’re not playing the Cardinals like does that

Become yet another game they don’t they don’t finish but they did finish it so you know good for them they did it I did have that Vibe of oh like here we go again yeah like those three comeback wins for well who was it the Broncos the

Lions and the uhu why am I forget the Browns yeah awful game um it did have that vibe to it even my sons who were watching that game had they like oh no it’s gonna happen again and I think the defense again against an inferior opponent but you play who you play well

They shut the door this time and I think that’s that that’s a positive you could take that positive and build on that yeah 100% um curious how the voicemails sound I know we got you know fewer than usual just because of it being Christmas but um we’ll see what the positivity was

Like and maybe you know maybe some negativity at the end I don’t know let’s see we had too much eggn yeah that too um probably Bob debrowski but just just guessing uh let’s get to your voicemails here from Sunday’s win over the Cardinals hello do you know who this is oh you didn’t

Know your ass better call somebody the Hogan John’s voicemail the Hogan John’s voicemail line believe it or not George isn’t at home please leave a message at the be got any questions or comments about the Bears give the guys a call before after or even during the game go Bears

After last week’s loss to the Browns true Bears fans are rooting for l from here on out go Cardinals G in after the game is going to be saying the Bears are who we thought they were but we didn’t let leave him off the hook let’s go bear down go Cardinals doesn’t make

Sense Bear Down 217 Bear’s just punted and I’m getting a real bad feeling I don’t know what it is but Fields body language on the field today just looks like he’s fully given up I mean after the Patrick Phantom hold that took off his 32 yard ground ball after each myth

Pass he just Eyes to the Sky ain’t looking good lad I just saw the Bears defense get just absolutely schooled by a dude named Greg dorch on third down I thought Flo was supposed to be a great defensive mind I think we can all say like no one

On this team knows how to call plays Merry Christmas I guess bye guys I’m just trying to have a Merry Christmas Eve with my family the Bears really GNA this up Hogan John’s Bears win and I’m sad you know all signs are pointing in Luke gsy and Matty bro and

Justin Fields all three being booted from Chicago uh maybe e flu hangs on because of his defense but still it’s frustrating as a fan of Justin um I wanted it to work out so bad but I wanted to also preemptively thank you guys for all the hard work this year and

Uh hope you guys have a happy holidays and uh maybe 2024 will be our year Bear Down hey bear F bman here all I wanted for Christmas is a Bears win and that’s what I got thir down did it for B man I love it I love

It should we check in um Bob yeah Bob well you know what I think it was the eggnog he didn’t even call in he was just passed out on his couch yeah man he’s that Uncle I don’t know if he’s even an uncle but he’s he’s he might be

That guy the in the family Uncle Bob Uncle Bob Uncle Bob by the way I might be able to actually do this today because maybe not nope I’m actually using my laptop no it didn’t work that’s disappointing have to figure that out all right um so you could tell there was some

Nervousness in there late uh so we weren’t the only ones sort of feeling like that I a couple angles I want to bring up I was a little if you haven’t noticed the Bears fan base is polarizing right now on a number of different topics and it seemed

Like even postgame Sunday when we did our Cho show there was a lot of uh fans feeling kind of how I was feeling which was like wait a minute that got dicey in the second half and you know Fields was good but he still that fourth quarter

Interception you got to wonder like how much that just feels like it weighs more in the evaluation um and then there was a number of other fans it might even been the majority that were just like almost upset that how dare you even like bring up

Some of the bad things that happened in the second half like that was a good win they got it they got off to a good start and I was surprised a little bit by that push back I mean again you you every Fan’s allowed to watch the game and feel

The way they they want to feel like there’s no problem with that but it the blowback we got a surprised me a little bit John is it more to do with the quarterback and in his struggles or is it more to do with well with what exactly like dorch

Torch I mean if you’re writing for like the Cardinals like torch by the way Greg dorch phnx is own Greg dorch he’s their Cole KT in Arizona and Patrick ceran in Denver like he’s part of the All City family so you know good for him well if

They didn’t use dorch torch the Bears for at least one sentence in their review of that game well like can we say like can I say something like when I heard that that’s not a Matt eberl how about Tyreek Stevenson and Eddie Jackson make the tackle in open field by the way

Like like in that case that is squarely on the player you know also in the NFL like you’re I you’re not g to have a you’re going to pitch a perfect game defensively there’s going to be some big play at some point as much as Matt E Lo

Would love to get on that field and make a tackle himself because you know he does you absolutely absolutely know he does he can’t do that like it’s not happening you know like Tyreek Stevenson rookie quarterback has to make the tackle there same with Eddie Jackson

Veteran safety um uh I guess my question for you like it it’s got to be the Justin field conversation right because like if you just look at the stats and I think people are tired of hearing the stats but like going into that game the Cardinals were averaging we were opposing quarterbacks playing

The Cardinals we allowing an average of a 10.3.3 passer rating second worst Mark in the league Justin fields’s was 30 points below that like that like you should expect better right you want to expect better I want to expect better of a quarterback right look I you a column up today about

Whether you know we’re all o over complicating this evaluation and I’ll let you get into some of that you know since you wrote it but you know where where I’m at and I know I’ve said this a couple times now I just want to reemphasize it because sometimes I get like here’s my

Official stance on Justin fields and I actually think I’ve been very consistent about this I think we know exactly who he is and what he is I actually think he’s he is more consistent than people give him credit for some of that being good and some of that being

Bad like almost every game he is g to be the one the defenses are worried about the most he’s gonna beat you with his legs he’s gonna make one or two incredible plays that almost every other quarterback in the league couldn’t do he’s going to be

Late on three to five throws maybe a couple of them still get completed and then another two get batted away like the first third down throw to Cole KT in that game was a late throw and it got knocked away and the Bears punted and it should have been a first down the

Fourth quarter interceptions are a thing you cannot deny that he has six of them now this season it’s TI League yes most in the league okay so that’s like a thing it’s on his resume and you’re gonna get those fourth quarter mistakes and unfortunately when you look at the

Numbers not just this year but over the course course of his career the fourth quarter is his worth worst quarter so but I actually think all those things I said all the good all the bad there is pretty much consistent like you know that’s what he is and by the

Way I think that’s good enough to keep him around if when you put on The Ledger the Caleb Williams Drake May situation versus the Justin field situation if a team offers you enough for that first pick you know they blow you out of the water with enough trade Capital draft assets

Whatever like I saw I saw brag throw this out there like the other day and it seems crazy at first but like if the Raiders give you three first pick first round picks and Max Crosby sounds insane but if some team’s willing to do that for that for Caleb

Williams everything I just said about Justin Fields that’s that might be good enough to surround him with a perfect Rost F and and be able to win with but on the other hand I do not fault the general manager if he looks at everything I just said and he’s knows

The evaluation better than we do and he also knows the the evaluation of kale Williams and Drake May better than we do and he decides that isn’t enough to from your quarterback position and we’re going to move on like I can I honestly can see it both ways and that’s part of

Why this is so polarizing I get it and everyone wants to get so mad every time they hear someone say something negative about Justin but it’s like dude this is who he is he’s very good he’s very special and he also does a lot of things

That drive you crazy at the same time and he in my opinion he’s a good enough quarterback to move forward with but he still might not be the best option if Ryan poles makes that decision I’m not going to criticize it I guess my question is good enough for how long and

Another question is like when I first saw br’s trade proposal from the Raiders sure there’s some level of insanity there but I think there is background to it because you saw well the 49ers did it to trade up Trey Lance of all quarterbacks and Caleb Williams is

Supposed to be better than that and that wasn’t even for the number one pick that was just to become second or three yeah yeah so I there’s some logic there actually that some team could get desperate enough if they really love Caleb Williams that they

And so here’s my followup to you you on that oh go ahead go ahead I had a follow up to that like my followup would be like oh my gosh they’re offering this much what am I missing on Williams that they’re seeing yeah well that’s fair

What am I missing on Drake May that they’re seeing go back to work guys go do some more research what do they know that we don’t so do you think Ryan Po’s mind is made up already or do you think that like last year there’s a there’s more evaluation

That needs to be done and he’s going to weigh trade offers both for Justin fields and the number one pick before he decides or do you think this is already no I know what direction I’m going in this is what I think I don’t think his roster last year meaning going into

This year was ready for a rookie quarterback I think that he’ll think that his roster for 2024 will be more ready for a rookie quarterback than it was this year does that Mak sense yes yeah he’ll have a receiver in DJ Moore he’ll have a better offensive line he’ll have a

Defense maybe a top 10 defense with an added pass rusher right because you know it’s going to be an offseason priority that will help the transition from Justin fields to a younger quarterback so I don’t know if his mind is fully made up but I think in terms of roster

Construction next year’s roster for the quarterback whether that’s Justin fields or a rookie will be better and I just think like I have this in my column like the I call it the Money Ball rea it the Money Ball reality is that Justin Fields onfield production especially as a

Passer will not be that tough to reproduce it just won’t be because it’s not that good I’ll give you the numbers in a minute it’s just not that good that like that’s the hard reality now the running that’s special that’ll be tough to to reproduce the hard passing you could find a quarterback

That can reproduce that you can’t it could be even I’ll just say you just can like in terms of like a veteran quarterback like you could reproduce the passing numbers um and then you get a rookie quarterback on a contract like I don’t think Justin Fields is numbers are good enough where

He can pick up the 2025 fifth year option you just can’t like can he be your starter in 2024 sure but he’s but you can’t tell me like after this season that he’s that his play warrants what the 25 2025 fifth year option amounts to like his rankings amongst like the quarterbacks

In the league don’t equate to that to me I mean am I am I wrong in saying that no I don’t think you are which I think kind of brings us to I think part of your point with your column are we making this too complicated because when I just

Hear I’m doing it right now no I know but you over complicating it right now you’re you’re not because I think what you’re getting at is like if you are in a spot after 3 years that you don’t feel like you can pick up the fifth year

Option and oh by the way you might have the number one pick you probably will have the number one pick with Caleb Williams staring you right there like I those are the moments when I put it in that type of perspective where as much as it sucks

And as much as people don’t want to hear this that love Justin fields and there’s many reasons to love Justin Fields so don’t get me wrong that just seems like an easy decision to me if you don’t feel like he’s good enough to pick up the fifth year option

And you have Caleb Williams right there staring at you on a rookie contract starting over and and you might disagree with this and when I say you I’m talking about our listeners you might be the biggest Justin Fields fan of the world and you just might disagree with that that’s

Fine but part of our job here is to have a feel for what the talent evaluators and the decision makers feel or how they look at this and I just find it hard to believe that a general manager is going to look at how we just laid that out right

Now and not move on this off season that’s just how I feel about it right now yeah but again please do not get me wrong I still feel like if you kept Justin you traded the number one pick you could you still have a successful team

I guess this the layer to that question is if you’re building around Justin Fields aren’t you building around his potential replacement right and I get that’s layered because you’re passing a marfin Harrison Junior like so instead of taking Marvin and Harrison Jr maybe you take the second best receiver in the

Slowed draft class like why can’t you trade your second first overall pick for more draft Capital you know what I’m saying maybe someone wants to move up for JJ McCarthy at number 10 right maybe that’s when Jaden Daniels goes at number 10 like teams move up for quarterbacks

Patrick Mahomes was the 10th overall quarter you know was number 10 overall pick you know like it happened well and that’s also I think you gotta factor that this situation into why now might be the time to strike on a quarterback again because not only are you not in a

Spot where you have to be desperate enough to trade up for a quarter back but you can take that quarterback and still have another top 10 pick yeah like it’s not even like you’re wait like I I think a lot of times it’s like when you’re desperate

For a quarterback even if you don’t have to trade up for one it’s like oh we got to use our first round pick on a quarterback when we have all these other needs like most teams drafting a quarterback have a lot of other needs and the bears are in this Lux luxury

Position where they can take that quarterback back and still draft another player in the top 10 yes yes yes or trade back or trade back for more cap which might be what they do because remember they don’t have a second round pick so the numbers you want them now

Like this this is what I mean about like I think that you could reproduce the passing numbers I don’t think it’s be that difficult all right so completion percentage right now with two games left Justin Fields you know where he ranks is this just this season just this season okay I

Don’t 27th incompletion percentage okay all right passing yards per game 23rd passer rating 21st qbr 22nd interception rate 27th sack rate let me sure make sure I got this right Sac rate 30th 30th adjusted net yards per attempt which before like EPA took off like this is It’s a longstanding metric for

Valuing Quality quarterback play right if you go through history the quarterbacks with the best adjusted net yards per pass attemp are like the greatest of all time okay this season Justin Fields ranks 25th in in like like his sack rate interception rate and his adjusted adjusted net yards attempt like they’ve

All improved for him but it’s still not amongst the best at his position that is a fair way to put it individual Improvement but still not amongst the best in his position as a passer and I get you have to factor in the running I get it but quarterbacks are passers

First and you have to wonder how long the running is sustainable which brings me to another thing I want to talk about from Sunday’s game those are all really good numbers by the way kind of again puts things into perspective what did you think about the way that Justin was

It just seemed like he was more willing to slide earlier the uh conscious about taking hits I’m not fully sure what you said about that 39 y he had before his interception but I thought he could have scored like when he looked back at the wouldbe

Tacklers maybe he was a bit surprised by himself because he ran through two guys two arm tackles and I’m thinking to myself watching it on my TV right there that he could score then he slid um I don’t mind it I do think there’s value even if you’re like

If the Bears are a playoff team like you should still s like yeah protect yourself a bit but do I think he could have scored yes I think like last year’s version of Justin Fields tries to you know and and maybe that’s part of his Evolution as a

Quarterback I’m not criticizing him at all for not trying to score there in fact if you’re I said this on Sunday show too if you’re going to move forward with Justin Fields as your quarterback you need him to slide like that you need him to be fully conscious

Like he was Sunday about taking hits uh or not taking hits so I don’t have a problem with it at all but I did find it interesting because I think this is something that has sort of changed through the course of this season compared to last year is we have seen

Fewer not ex I mean there’s plenty of explosives still but those big crazy like on any given moment he can break off a 65 yard touchdown run there’s been less of that like think about that Eagles run last year where he barely stepped out of bounds and and

Jonathan Ganon who was the Eagles DC last year actually referenced that play this week when he was preparing for him or last week I should say and he’s like you know so again I just find it interesting as like a talking point I think it’s something that is part of Justin’s Evolution right

Now and like I said if if you’re going to move forward with him as your quarterback you need him to be conscientious in those situations about not taking a hit but he end up throwing an interception right after that you didn’t score and that would have been

The dagger in the game now you won anyway I just found it interesting the scrambles are um down this year um hard numbers um this is from pro football reference scrambles in 2021 46 scrambles in 2022 69 nice nice scrambles in 2023 37 interesting now obviously Fields has two more games

To play he played 15 games last year but that’s a 32 scramble difference there right I think it would be fair to say too that the offensive Line’s been better but that’s what’s interest interesting about a sack rate still being as bad as it is right I don’t think his offensive

Line’s Perfect by any means I do think it’s been better I do think it’s a need of a like I think one of the biggest conversations the Bears will have is whether or not Braxton Jones is the future at left tackle or you going to take one of those

Studs top 10 like that’s a that’s another layered conversation because you need other help you need a new center so I I do think the the offensive line is is like there’s going to be investment there um like you get T Jenkins and Nate Davis and T Jenkins

Health is always a concern and you have Dar all right so I think there’s potential investment coming there um but yes to your point like the scrambles are down you know what I think could be part of the Braxton Jones evaluation too though or projection going forward um can you live with

Him if your quarterback gets rid of the ball faster probably you know because you just invested a top 10 pick at right tackle and you found this you know for fifth round pick Braxton Jones been really good and you know saving you money to have two young tackles like that instead of

Having to go out now you could use top 10 draft Capital again on a left tackle you can go out and sign somebody for a ridiculous amount of money or can you live with with the cheaper option on The Blind Side if you have a quarterback

That happens to be really good at catch release get the ball out maybe I mean that again that’s how these guys look at this stuff maybe maybe again layered but to go back to my question like are we guilty of over over complicating this I think I am I definitely think I am

Um let me ask you this I have this in my column as well to use ps’s own phrasing about being like Blown Away by a quarterback prospect I think we can apply that to the Justin Fields evaluation has Justin Fields Blown Away Ryan poles and his was scouting staff Ian

Cunningham has he done it what’s your answer I know what my answer is I’m curious to hear what you have to say I I when you no when you list those passing numbers no has he blown has he blown us all away with his rushing ability yeah

Obviously but like you said earlier like you gota you gotta be a quarterback too and when you when you put all those passing numbers and lay them out the way you did John’s I don’t I don’t see how the answer to that question could be yes

You know it’s you look at where Justin Fields with all those rankings I just provided and in the players that like that he’s around the quarterbacks Sam how Kenny picket I’ll give you a few other names um hold on hold on just want to be accurate on this yeah

We don’t want to be quoted in any editorials here no no like um Aiden oconnell you know Zack Wilson will Levis like he’s better than all of them yeah he is but what makes this so different is that the Bears have the first pick and how often do you have the

First pick in back-to-back years how often are you looking at a quarterback like Caleb Williams and passing on him well and I think that gets back to your question like so you go back to last year when the standard was can any of these quarterbacks in the draft blow

Ryan polls away to the point that he’s going to give up on Justin Fields after just two seasons but now you got to look at it again like and now that you’ve had three seasons and you’re right include Justin fields in it which of these quarterbacks now in

This equation blow you away the most and you’re right it’s almost reversed this year has Justin Fields blown you away enough to pass on Caleb Williams like do I think that Caleb Williams can walk into the NFL and deliver pass in numbers that are at least similar to Justin Field’s current production my

Honest answer is probably yes probably better probably yeah yeah yes yeah and then again the Money Ball reality in this is that you get him on a rookie contract for four years instead of picking up a fifth year option in 2025 or if not picking up that option using

The franchise teag or having a Daniel Jones like situation where you have to pay him that’s that’s part of roster building as well now you get a rookie quarterback who could probably deliver decent passing numbers if we’re just comparing it to Justin Fields but now you get to use instead of draft

Capital because everyone’s obsessed about draft Capital but now you have free agency Capital you know what I’m talking about now you could right well sign your own guys resign your own guys hello Jaylen Johnson and you could go in free agency and be like you know what we really need a veteran Center

There you go but that’s why I brought up the braxon Jones things too because it’s it’s another spot where it’s like do we have to spend money at this position a premium position or not yeah and if a different quarterback can help that left tackle they almost killing two birds

With one stone there now you’re saving money at quarterback and left tackle to spend that that money elsewhere well speaking of Caleb Williams John’s there’s uh a tweet that everyone’s talking about it’s not even one of his tweets but he liked a tweet and because it’s 20203 this is what Bears fans are

All hyped up about and debating um but it is kind of interesting so uh we we are looking at a tweet from Spenny shout out to Spenny uh on Christmas Eve only one option for the Chicago Bears in the 2024 NFL draft it’s not Caleb Williams we want Justin

Fields the answer is Marvin Harrison Jr and this person tagged taged Bears tagged Caleb Justin Fields tagged Marvin Harris Jr and Mar uh and and Caleb liked it he liked this tweet so everyone’s like oh no he doesn’t want to play for the Bears John’s liking the idea of them passing on

Him this remind see I interpret this completely different than me too than that like this is a guy in Caleb Williams who would like things like this to help motivate him not that he needs it but we know some of the greatest ones are motivated by such things yeah

Including like Michael Jordan if you did not watch the last dance like forget Aaron roders forget Tom Brady because they did it I just think of Michael Jordan who would like invent slights against himself within games to motivate him like that was all in the last dance right like

Books um this is all documented the greatest basketball player of all time would do this like that’s how I interpret this as like this is fine don’t draft me and see how much you regret it that’s how I interpret this well and he does have a history of this

Some people poting out some other past tweets that he’s hit the like button on that have been like negative ones towards him so it seems like he he he might you know now we’re really reading into this but he he might have a history here of liking things like slights just

To motivate him there’s another tweet though that popped up here that he liked in the last 16 hours or so um now this is a positive one shout out to Jimbo now I’ve waited my whole life for a quarterback like cayb Williams on the Chicago Bears I spent Christmas making

This it’s a highlight reel that he puts here but I’m not pain for a blue check to post the full thing and one true freshman not supposed to be playing in this game by the way and he tag Caleb Williams who then liked it these are his

Highlights from the game I was talking about last week where he came in uh Red River rivalry against Texas they were losing 28 to7 they were still losing by 18 going in the fourth quarter and he brought them back um had an unbelievable game he did not start the game Spencer

Rattler got benched in the middle of it Caleb Williams came in unbelievable atmosphere unbelievable pressure and he delivered um in the highlights this is what I was talking about last week it’s in it’s incredible um so I don’t know why that you know so you went you did post that

That one of the clips from that game and a couple weeks ago you weren’t Blown Away by his film are you changing your your mind here so are you digging deeper Adam hul I am digging deeper like I said at the time people got mad at me because

I watched you know his two worst games from the season which again for the I was at Notre Dame I was you were at the Notre Dame game I I’m I did not choose those two games because they were his worst I asked hey what are the two you know toughest

Defenses he faced that’ll simulate NFL like uh talent and that happened to be Utah Notre Dame this year and those were not his two best games also at the time there was plenty of good in those games too but to use that standard of blown away after watching those two tapes I

Was not blown away and I said we’re just beginning this evaluation you know che check back with me once I watch more of these tapes so I decide to go back to the beginning and 2021 when he’s on Oklahoma let’s do this in chronological order let’s get this

Full picture and it’s going to take some time guys I I can’t sit here and watch Caleb Williams all day every day when I still have to cover the Bears here but um yeah this Oklahoma game this Oklahoma Texas game I should say from 2021 100% blown away I mean comes in

First snap runs for a 65 yard touchdown then at the end of the game the the throw I posted on Twitter last week was just insane 57 yard throw to the front pylon to Marvin Mims Jr in crunch time on Third and 19 when they

Had to have it I mean these are the type of huge moments um in so yes especially given the circumstances was completely blown away I’ve since also watched the Fresno State game from that year and again very good I don’t know if it rises to the level of Blown Away the

Circumstances were a little bit different but he was still definitely very good and so I think probably more of the 20 21 tapes I watch in 2022 I’m G to be more Blown Away than maybe his struggles that we’ve seen this year I think before we go um like one of the

Most important factors that’s not discussed enough right now is that Ryan poles was probably prepared for all this that remember the conversation before the season the pivot it’s all part of the plan in a sense the pivot the pivot the pivot move you saying pivoting a quarterback yes yeah that if Justin Fields

Doesn’t become the consistent quarterback that the Bears want him to be improved considerably in some areas then Ryan poles built in a pivot to change quarterbacks given that there was an outstanding class coming and again this was before the season Cale Williams and Drake May were

Discussed it was praised as a great move you know and I think the roller coaster ride itself has kind of made us forget that that pivot move was even made you know but the Bears have the first pick the conversations are different well and that’s the thing like that that was with

No guarantee that you were G to have the first pick at all like you might had to bundle some picks to have access to Caleb Williams um so now that that opportunity is in front of you and I we did want to bring that up here before we

Get out of here um the draft order now with that Patriots win on Sunday that was was a huge one because the Patriots were the team that was flirting with Carolina in terms of tying strength of schedule so for them they add their fourth win of the season they fall back

Uh essentially Carolina slash the Bears has a um two game lead in this situation on getting the number one pick because look to simplify this as much as possible they’re going to have the tiebreaker over Arizona who is the only team now with three loss or three wins I should

Say so if the if the Panthers lose another game with two games to go if they lose one of the two games the Bears are gonna have the number one pick and that’s crazy sorry I got two little elves raing a box of cookies next

To me I was a bit distracted no that’s all right so um what are you saying I was saying the bearss are gonna have the first pick all they need is basically Carolina to to lose one more game and that’s going to happen that’s gonna happen um see the Bears in number

Eight there where do you think that that finishes because they’re gonna beat the Falcons you think so preview preview episode over for th falcons look pretty good on Sunday what about like two weeks ago looked pretty awful yeah I know um I think they finish in the 8 to1

Range with I think 11 or 12 probably being the highest look at Green Bay right there as well um which again is a good range for some of these pass rushers a good range for the second best receiver and a good range for trading back a few spots if somebody

Wants to move up for Jaden Danel Daniels yeah I mean I think they’ll be in a similar spot as they were last year with that pick you know after trading back they were at nine they traded back one more spot on draft night to 10 that’s where they ended up getting Darnell right

You’re going have access to a very good player there um and you probably don’t need to to trade up and oh by the way you might get Caleb Williams with the first pick on top of it again I think as much as this gets polarizing and I’m

Sure there’s a lot of people listening to this episode that love Justin fields that aren’t going to love it that’s that’s fine just I do think it’s important to keep perspective that we are in our ninth year doing this podcast we’re almost celebrating our 10 year iversary and

This by far in my opinion is the best position the Bears have been in to get themselves in position for sustained long-term success and remarkably we we should bring this into the conversation Thursday we didn’t really talk about that coaching situation at all in this episode and that’s still the decision

That’s got to be made first um you know how do what does this coaching St staff look like before they bring in perhaps a new quarterback into the mix meanwhile the playoff chances are basically gone guys 1% 1% um they’re two games back with two

Games to go and four teams in between so absolute Miracle would be needed even if they win their last two games I think they’re going to split these two games Johns the the way the Falcons played on Sunday I had a feeling though with hinei playing that it was actually going to be

Better for them um but you know week 18 still the Packers and they still haven’t beaten the Packers since 2018 really has it been that long Yeah man so so I certainly don’t think it’s a a guarantee here that they’re GNA go two and0 to end the season or anything

But all right good discussion today got any final thoughts the final thought I have is the if the Bears do two go two and 0 down the stretch here man is definitely coming back okay well let’s save some of that more yeah I want to talk about that like

I think the same question can be asked and answered in that conversation do you think that decision’s already been made or can it can these last two games affect that and I think that that’s something we discussing more on Thursday when we come back and preview this game

Against the Falcons make sure you’re following us on Twitter in the meantime at Adam hog Adam Johns Hogan Johns our show account on Twitter as well you can get all of our merch at hog and johns.com uh we will be back in a couple days

We’ll hear what Flo has to say at how Hall and um do a little bit more digging on this Falcons team see if the Bears can get another win this week do you know they’re six and five in their last 11 o o speaking of things that head coach

Really pointing at to keep his job now the first four weeks of the Season still did happen there is more wins than losses Adam hul but you could sit there and say they are six and five with three of those five losses being games they should have won they’ve

Doubled their win total from last year hooray but to me seven wins was the floor for this season I believe it was the the line was six and a half right I thought it was higher I thought they were seven and a half seven and a half or eight and

A half even no it definitely wasn’t eight and a half no way at least seven and a half want to double check that um all right well uh enjoy the next couple days everyone and we’ll be back on Thursday Merry Christmas